It is becoming more and more important to monitor the performance of computers and computer/processor controlled devices as they become more and more critical to the proper performance of machines and businesses. For example, many financial institutions, or other transaction-based businesses, rely on computers to track and record transactions, events, and the current status of data in their systems. Failure of a memory unit of a data storage/record computer can be disastrous for a business. It is known to use RAID techniques to minimise the risks of the failure of a single hard disc bringing down a data record and management system. So called “data centres” exist to which organisations can outsource the management of their mission—critical data management and storage. A fee is paid to the data centres for housing the data records and managing them. Top quality hard discs are used in such data centre data recording/management devices. These are of better quality than “high street” hard drives and are more robust and tolerant of their environment. Each disc array may typically be able to hold a Tb of data. Since the data record computers of data centres are so critical to the operation of the data centre, and of their customers, even with RAID techniques it is common to have the further safety system of monitoring the performance and characteristics of each data storage/management device in the data centre. Typically a data centre storage device may have monitored its physical orientation, its temperature, read or write errors for each disc of the disc arrays monitored, disc failure monitored, and include any other parameter or value which may be helpful to indicate a need to repair or maintain the device. This device operational capability/influencing data is communicated to the data centre network operations centre (i.e. the organisation that is responsible for maintaining the data centre) by a dedicated telephone line. This provides “phone-home” capability: the device automatically telephones its “owner” to report malfunctions, or things which may cause malfunction (or indeed to report anything else that it is configured to report). This up to date information is very valuable to the “owner” of the device/data centre manager.
Some organisations may have many data recording and management devices in a data centre, possibly 20 or more. Each device has its own dedicated telephone line. Each line may cost of the order of $100-$200 per month. This phone line rental costs $4000 per month, or more, are possible for organisations which have many devices at a data centre. This is perceived as simply the price of doing business. A cheaper alternative would be to have each device post its “phone-home” alert data onto its own webpage of its devices. However, putting sensitive data on the web does not come naturally to discrete careful organisations such as banks, share traders, and other businesses, for security reasons. Thus dedicated land-based telephone lines are preferred which are permanently connected to the customers own monitoring computers.
Each disc controller (or other peripheral having a management system, for example a tape controller) may have dedicated telephone connection to a service centre. Should a problem or fault be noted the controller telephones the disc manufacturer and informs them of the situation. As each disc controller requires its own telephone line this can be a costly exercise.
Remote back up systems for data centres where each data storage device, or disc array, has a dedicated output phone line are known, see for example EP 0 910 019.
Also, the upload of control data, for example peripheral component configuration data, is possible and is discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,695,946.